Filing folder



June 10, 1952 w. F. LOSCH, JR 2,599,768

FILING FOLDER- Filed Jan. 12, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. MAL/AM F LOSCH, J2.

ATTORNEY June 10, 1952 w. F. Lc a scH, JR 2,599,768

FILING FOLDER Filed Jan. 12, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I N VEN TOR.

MLL/AM E Lose/7 J0.

June 10, 1952 w. F. LOSCH, JR 2,599,763

FILING FOLDER Filed Jan. 12', 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet s [N V EN TOR.

Mum/w F Lose/1', J2.

Patented June 10, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FILING FOLDER William F. Losch, J r., Los Angeles, Calif.

Application January 12, 1946, Serial No. 640,846

3 Claims. 1

The invention refers to a filing folder and has particular reference to a folder in which one or more sheets of paper may be fixed to provide what is frequently termed as a permanent file.

While filing folders for papers of all kinds have been in common-use to facilitate the keeping of indexed records and while catalogue folders bearing a great similarity to filing folders have been prepared for binding in what are commonly designated as loose leaf ring binders, there has been insufiicient attention given to the provision of a convenient and inexpensive filing folder which can be indexed and into which papers of an ordinary sort may be permanently bound by some fastenin means such, for example, as an ordinary stapler.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a new and improved filing folder consisting of front and back covers within which one or more papers may be permanently attached and which may be inserted as a unit in a ring binder without taking up any more room than is ordinarily occupied by the usual indexes and other pages held within the ring binder.

Another object is to provide a new and improved filing folder within which one or more pages may be permanently attached with the filing folder so arranged that it may be opened flat after insertion in a ring binderand permit the pages attached to the folder to be readily leafed over.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a filing folder which will permit stapling one or more pages to one of the covers at the inside of the folder by use of an ordinary stapling machine which byits construction is limited to the application of staples not more than an inch or two from the edge of the stapled pages. I p

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved filing folder within which one or more pages may be permanently attached and wherein apertures are provided to facilitate the stapling, the material of the apertures being adapted to partial removal for extension outwardly to provide a permanent means of attaching' the folder within a conventional file or filing cabinet.

Still further among the objects of the invention is to provide a quick, convenient and inexpensive means of stapling one or more pages in a filing folder wherein a portion of the folder may be bent over the pages to provide, together with an additional fastening means, an improved reinforced connection between the pages and the folder.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of the device incorporated in a ring binder showing a filing folder with front and back covers open.

Figure 2 is a view of the filin folder in open position before the application of sheets to one of the covers.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional view on the line 3--3 of Figure 4 showing in solid lines the covers folded over on each other after the staple has been applied and showing in dotted lines the front cover after it has been opened.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of one of the tabs after the staple has been applied to hold a sheet in place on the back cover.

Figure 5 is a view of the assembled device in a position it would occupy in a file drawer.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view showing a tab of modified proportion.

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are fragmentary views of a folder in which the material of the tab has been cut out in order to leave an open aperture.

Figure 10 is a fragmentary view showing a cut out aperture of a slightly different form in which one dimension has been reduced to a slit.

Figures 11 and 12 are fragmentary views of ,still another modified form showing an end tab in respectively initial and assembled positions.

When information of one kind or another is of such a character that it can best be kept on separate sheets of paper in filin folders, common practice has been to add pages as they appear to the folder wherein they may be kept loose, or bound if preferred. Folders customarily consist of a front and back cover with one or both of the folders provided with a tab at the open side for indexing purposes.

When the papers filed within the folder are to be permanently attached therein, various means have been resorted to. Some of these means comprise the addition of an extra flap to one side of the folder to which the paper is secured by some conventional fastening means such as brass staples, in some cases, or in other cases a binder known commercially as an Acco fastener.

On other occasions pages are stapled to one cover or the other without use of extra flaps by means of a conventional brass staple the ends of which may be spread by hand.

Both of these methods present various disadvantages. If an extra flap is to be used, some hinge device must be employed in order to permanently fasten the flap to the cover. In addition to the hinge a fastening means must be utilized in order to fasten the papers to the flap.

If the pages are merely fastened to one cover or the other by use of the conventional staple, the staple itself will provide an obstruction on the exterior of the cover which is objectionable. Either the head or the tines of a staple will protrude.

Regardless of how pages or papers may be bound in a filing folder of the sort just referred to, should it become necessaryunder any filing system to remove the folder and insert it within a ring hinder, the folders thus bound are clumsy and awkward to handle, especially when there is a relatively large volume of papers secured between the covers of the folder. 7

Under these circumstances, the folder cannot be spread out fiat in a ring'binder without the likelihood of tearing the holes, and it is only with considerable dimculty that the pages or paperswithin the folder can be leafed over on the rings withouttearing them at the perforated edge.

In order to leaf over the pages most satisfactorily, it is desirable that they be bound between the covers of the folder at the edge nearest the hinge. Because of the fact that the folder covers the sheaf or stack of papers on both sides it is not possible to staple the pages to one cover only by use of stapling machines of an ordinary sort having a short throat. Relatively few stapling machines have a long enough throat to permit them to spanthe distance across a sheet of ordinary size business letter paper. 7 To secure papers in a folder by the usual means it would be necessary to staple through both covers, and papers bound in this manner within a folder, and especially ones having stiff covers, are not readily accessible when they must be leafed through for examination. This would be true whether or not bound sheaf or stack of papers were inserted within a ring binder. w

In an embodiment chosen to illustrate the invention there is provided a filing folder of more or less conventional dimension and proportion which is adapted to have sheets of paper fastened to one cover or another in such a manner that the folder complete with pages may be readily and. conveniently used upon insertion within a ring binder, as shown particularly in Figure 1. 7

As shown in Figure 1, there is provided a folder comprising a front cover In and a back cover I2 adapted to be secured within a ring binder M which here is shown as a style and type provided with three rings I6 which are adapted to be opened to receive perforated, loose leaf sheets.

The folder is illustrated as being provided with an index tab I8 at the outside'edge of the back cover and adapted to have permanently attached therein a series of sheets 20 of the papers which comprise the filed subject matter. The front and back covers are permanently attached together along the line 2| which serves the purpose of a hinge.

So that the front and back covers may be applied to rings of a ring binder they are provided, respectively, with punched holes 22 and 23 of the same number as there are rings in the binder within which the filing folder is to be secured.

4 The punched holes 22 and 23 are located but a short distance from the line 2|.

Of special note is the provision in the front cover of tabs 24, three in number, the outline of the edge of the tabs being perforated along three sides so that the tab in each case may be readily torn loose or punched out of its position from the front cover. The side of the tab along the line 2| of the hinge joining the front and back covers is not perforated and remains a permanent hinge for the tab after it is freed. The hole 23 is located within the tab so that when the tab is bent over along the line 2| the holes 23 and 22 will coincide.

When sheets of paper such as the sheets 28 are to be secured Within the filing folder, a simple expedient is to fold the folder so that the frontcover overlies the back cover and then insert the sheets 20 to be filed. With holes in the sheets 20 coinciding with the holes 22 and 23 in the covers the covers are closed, and a fastening means, such for example as a staple 25, is driven through the tab 24, the sheets 20. and the back cover |2, the ends of the staple being clinched around the back face of the back cover. As the tab, originally forming a portion of the front cover, is thus fastened in place the holes 23 and 22'will coincide with each other and with a hole 25 along the edge of the papers or sheets 20, as shown in full line position in Figure 4.

After the sheets have'thus been stapled into the folder the front cover It is opened, but the tab 24 remains bound to the back cover. A slight pull upon the front cover will tear the tab loose therefrom along the line of its edges, and the tab will remain bound to the back cover even though the front cover may be spread to a full open position. The hole 23 will thus comprise a hole through the tab coinciding with the hole 22 in the back cover.

Where the tab has been pulledloose from the front cover there will remain an aperture 21 having the same outline as the tab. Knowing in advance the diameter of the ring binder Within which the folder may be used, the size of the tab from the line 2| to the edge of the tab most remote therefrom may be equal to or slightly greater than the diameter of the ring binder. This will permit the front cover to be open and closed over the rings of the binder without tearing or being otherwise impaired. There may be provided as many tabs as there are rings in the binder or more if need be. No matter how many of the tabs may be used for stapling the pages to the back cover, the covers may always be opened up leaving an aperture of the nature of the aperture 21. which will pass freely over as many rings as .are in the binder. By making aperture 21 of ample length the folder may always be made to open easily even though overloaded with bound sheets of paper.

By a device of this kind papers such as the papers 20 may be permanently bound to the back cover of a filing folder without interfering with the insertion of the folder together with the sheets into a ring binder. The device also makes possible stapling the tabs to the papers and to the back cover by use of a stapling machine which is notcapable of reaching in from the edge more than an inch or two, it being only necessary for the stapling machine to reach far enough to pass a staple through the tab, at the area beneath which the papers are positioned. In the particular embodiment shown the staple is applied on theside of the ring hole perforations 23 remote from the hinge line 21.

Should it bedeemed unnecessary to use the tab 24 as a means of reinforcing the attachment of papers to the back cover, the tab may be first punched out and bent outwardly and downwardly to the positions shown in Figure 5. After the tab is out of the way, the papers may be stapled to the back cover by application. of the staple through the hole 2'1. left when the tab is torn out. One or more of the tabs 24 may then be used as a means of anchoring the filing folder in a permanent file drawer by means of anchoring rods 35. If only a center rod is to be used, only the center need be bent downwardly.-

When tabssuch as the tab 24 are not needed for securing the folder within a file drawer and when there is no special need for using the material of the tab as a means of reinforcing the connection of the paper to the back cover, the area normally occupied by a tab may be merely cut out and the material removed. The cut-out idea is illustrated most aptly in Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10. If preferred, a long tab 25 may be provided suited to a special binder 29 as shown in Figure 6.

In Figure 7 there is provided a T-shaped opening, indicated generally by the character 3 l having a slotted leg section 32 of a width substantially the same as the diameter of the holes which are engaged by the rings in the binder. A slotted cross-arm or transverse section 33 of the T should have a length slightly greater than the length of one of the staples 25 so that the staple may be applied through the aperture, as shown in Figure 7. As there illustrated, the hole 22 in the back cover and the coinciding hole in the paper lie within the leg of the T. Papers bound in a folder in this manner may be applied to the rings of a ring binder in the same manner as the first described form.

For illustrative purposes there is shown in Figure 9 a view similar to Figure 4 wherein the aperture 21 is made by a tab of a similar size which has been cut away along a line 34 at the line of the hinge and entirely removed.

Figure shows a cut out area 35 wide enough and long enough to comfortably accommodate the application of the staple through it. Here, however, there is no more than a slit 36 joining the aperture with a point coincident with the hinge line 2| When a folder cut or punched in this manner is applied to the rings of a ring binder, the ring is free to be passed between the edges of the slit 35. The folder, however, works in general with the same case and facility as the structures previously described.

In Figures 11 and 12 a further form is illustrated. In this instance, a front cover 48 and a rear cover 4! are hinged together along the line 42, there being provided ring holes 43 and 44 to fit the rings in a ring binder. In this instance, however, there is provided a tab 45 at one or both end edges of the rear cover 4| located adjacent the hinge line. In order to facilitate use of the tab, there may be provided either slits or perforations along the lines 46 and 41 having the same length, and a side 48 may be creased, if preferred, so that the tab may be partly torn loose and bent along the line 48. To use a tab of this kind sheets 49 which are to be bound are placed in the position shown in Figure 12 and the tab 45 bent over into place. The stapling machine may be applied from the end edges and a staple 50 driven 6. through the tap .45, the sheets 49 and the rear cover 4|.

The folder illustrated in Figures 11 and 12 may likewise be applied to the rings of a ring binder wherein the covers may be opened flat to permit free and ready examination of the permanently attached sheets within the folder.

By the simple expedient herein described, which utilizes nothing more than the material comprising the front or back cover of a conventional filing folder, loose sheets may be permanently attached within the folder by ordinary fastening means and the folder and contents handled as a unit. Folders may be'used in file drawers of the usual sort or may be withdrawn from the file drawers and inserted temporarily in a ring hinder, the inter-change being accomplished without any variation or change in the form or assembly of the folder and its contents.

Tabs of certain dimensions and proportions have been shown for the purpose of illustration, but it will be appreciated that the configuration of the tab may be varied to suit different circumstances without departing from the fundamental concept of providing either a tab or an aperture at the hinged edge between front and back covers of the filing folder which facilitates the fastening of loose sheets to one cover or the other.

Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent structures.

The invention having been herein described, what is claimed and sought to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a filing folder adapted to individually retain one or more sheets of paper and to fit into a ring binder having paper retaining rings therein the combination of a front cover and a back cover having a hinged connection along one edge of each, tabs comprising the material of one only of said covers extending from the line of the hinge laterally into said one cover, the line of junction of each tab and the respective cover being frangible except at the hinged connection whereby the tab is adapted to be broken loose from the cover, said covers having matched pairs of ring holes, one hole of each pair being located in the tab in said one cover and the other being located in the other cover, each said tab having a stapling area on the side of the ring hole remote from the hinged connection and the tab being adapted to be stapled through said area and paper in the folder to the other cover at a location adjacent the ring hole therein and thereafter separated from said one cover leaving an aperture of size and shape adapted to fit over the exterior of a ring in the ring binder when the ring is engaged in said pair of holes.

2. A filing folder adapted to individually retain at least one sheet of paper and to fit a ring binder comprising a front cover and a back cover having a hinged connection along one edge of each, tabs spaced to conform with the spacing of rings in the binder comprising the material of one only of said covers extending initially from the line of the hinge laterally into said one cover, said tabs having ring holes therein and the other cover havin ring holes spaced to conform with the spacing of the rings in the binder and spaced inwardly from said one edge in conformance with the spacing of ring holes in thetabs, and at least one sheet of holes joining the tab, the paper and said other C over 3. In a filing folder adapted to individually retain at least one sheet of paper and to fit into a 1 ring binder, arfront cover and a back cover having a hinged connection along one edge of each and adapted to lie in face to face contact throughout an area adjacent the hinged connection, at least one tab comprising the material of one only of said covers located adjacentthe line of the hinge and within said area, and a frangible separating line extending from the hinged connection 'to and around the tab whereby the tab is adapted to be broken loose from the cover, rin holes in at least one of said covers, said tab bein adapted to have a staple extended therethrough adjacent thering hole on the side thereof remote from the hinged connection and through paper in 8 the folder and the other cover, said tab being thereafter separated from saidone cover, the other cover having a ring hole therein coinciding with the ring hole in the tab.

F. LOSCH, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 629,601 Pope July 25, 1899 1,521,076 Clark Dec. 30, 1924 1,742,993 Jettinger Jan. 7, 1930 1,943,564. Morehead Jan. 9, 1934 2,155,187 Green Apr. 18, 1939 2,187,451 Gilson Jan. 16, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 110,104 Great Britain Oct. 11, 1917 

